Eastman Chemical (EMN) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.81 on July 9th

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.81 per share by the basic materials company on Tuesday, July 9th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th.

Eastman Chemical has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Eastman Chemical has a dividend payout ratio of 36.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Eastman Chemical to earn $9.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.1%.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EMN opened at $97.50 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $95.01 and a 200 day moving average of $87.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $11.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.54. Eastman Chemical has a 12 month low of $68.89 and a 12 month high of $102.71.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.20. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 10.16% and a return on equity of 13.84%. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastman Chemical

In other news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total transaction of $415,496.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on EMN. Bank of America reduced their target price on Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Eastman Chemical in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $95.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.12.

About Eastman Chemical

Eastman Chemical Company operates as a specialty materials company in the United States, China, and internationally. The company's Additives & Functional Products segment offers amine derivative-based building blocks, intermediates for surfactants, metam-based soil fumigants, and organic acid-based solutions; specialty coalescent and solvents, paint additives, and specialty polymers; and heat transfer and aviation fluids.